3.5 starsEllen Connor is the writing duo of Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty. Nightfall is the first book in the Dark Age Dawning series.The Change has just occurred. Parts of the US are no longer. The dawning of a new Dark Age is upon us. The US government is telling everyone that things are going to be okay. Jenna thinks she's safe from what is happening across the country until she opens her front door and is kidnapped. Mason promised Jenna's dad that he would take care of her. Mitch has been out in the trenches fighting what The Change has caused. Jenna's dad, Mitch, had never been there for Jenna so Jenna isn't in any hurry to believe that Mitch's dying wish was for Mason to look after her. Mason's plan is to hole up in his cabin and wait it out. But his plans change when a group of refugees knock on his door. Mason wants to turn them away but Jenna invites them in. Maybe as a group, they'll have better chances of survival and fighting the demon dogs.Ellen Connor successfully paints a bleak and dark picture of what the world is like after the Change. They do not hold back. There are demon dogs that are only about survival. They are vicious, ravenous and hard to kill. There is very little hope for the ragtag group of refugees to survive as winter approaches and they need water, heat and food for survival.Jenna fights Mason in the beginning. She doesn't believe what Mason is telling her which is basically the prophecies her father, Mitch, told him. For a while, Jenna was annoying. She was in constant denial about what was happening but the affects of the new Dark Age was all around them. She refused to see what was in front of her because her ill-feelings towards her father blinded her. Mason is all about getting the job done. He must keep Jenna safe; and thanks to Jenna's altruism, he now has 4 other people he must worry about. Mason's attitude is very no-nonsense. He doesn't have time to sugarcoat things because their survival is depending upon him keeping a level head.There is attraction between Mason and Jenna in the beginning that both tries to deny. A post-apocalyptic world is not the best time to start a new romance. They have some hot and heavy make-out sessions that leave them both wanting. But as the weeks go by, Mason and Jenna start noticing a change. They can get inside each other's head, communicate telepathically. The return of magic is mentioned a lot throughout the book but we're never given any indication that there was magic prior to the Change. We are supposed to accept things as fact without much explanation provided by the author.Nightfall is the first book of a new series. I expected a lot of time spent setting up the foundation for future books. I felt like I started watching a movie after missing the first 20 minutes. Some things were stated but not fully explained. For instance, in the prologue, there's a mention of the O'Malley organization and was never mentioned again. In book 2, O'Malley is mentioned in the blurb. If we aren't going to meet this O'Malley person until book 3, why mention it at all in book 1? I felt that the book ended kinda abruptly and I didn't like the epilogue. The epilogue didn't provide anymore information than the first 300+ of the book.Despite the issues I had with Nightfall, I did enjoy it. The plot and characters kept me engaged. I was invested in the story. I am looking forward to reading books 2 and 3 to see how the new, post-apocalyptic world turns out. I liked the characters and am interested in seeing more of them in the future.
